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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask whether you can sing?

204 replies

Apoiads · 12/04/2019 01:30

I can sing, but I don't, because I'm shy.
I sang once in public in a pub and apparently everyone was talking about me the next day (I was really proud to hear that). That gives me every sort of stage fright and fear of performance failure that you might imagine, so I haven't sung since.
I sound a bit like this woman when I sing...

So I can 'carry a tune' but I'm never going to set the world on fire!

My dd can sing, but not x-factor level, she's just good at carrying a tune 'I can get by' as she says herself.

Less about me.

I'd love to hear from any singers - I think it's a beautiful talent that you either have or haven't. Anyone who's a shower singer care to share?

OP posts:
ForalltheSaints · 13/04/2019 06:41

Just about hold a tune. I have three professional musicians in the family who have inherited the musical talent in the family that I have missed.

GinUnicorn · 13/04/2019 06:42

I used to do lots of singing and was in various plays etc. I just don’t really have the time now but hopefully will revisit in future.

mogtheexcellent · 13/04/2019 06:50

I used to sound awful but I still sang to my baby. I found the more I sang the better I got. I'd like to have a few lessons to improve more and get to grips with the technique.

HBStowe · 13/04/2019 07:41

I truly, truly can’t. Would love to be able to though!

WitchyBollox · 13/04/2019 08:35

I think it's great to be that good in various instruments, I stopped at grade 5 & 6 in piano and violin but wish I'd carried on. My DS is going to do his grade 5 piano but leave it at that really. Learning in that way is not his passion but he realises for the future he needs it.

I know a few singers who were average at best but they had singing lessons for the types of songs they wanted to perform and now make a decent living just doing clubs, bars, weddings etc. They perform well and it makes people want to listen. It's all about passion and hard work!!

lowbudgetnigella · 13/04/2019 08:42

Another advocate here for joining a choir, I go twice a week and it is brilliant just belting out songs and fantastic fun and friendship. You don't have to be perfect as you tube in to those around you. Find a local one that has the ethos and music you like, in our small town there are several, ours is fun modern music but there are a mixture right through to serious choral. Go for it

Afromumma · 13/04/2019 08:46

I can sing but not as well as I could in my teens. I got braces and stopped singing as I was self conscious of the mouth full of metal. I guess it's true when they say if you don't use it you lose it.

Luckily my daughter seems to have inherited the talent and she looks so cute singing alongside her guitar x

Ledkr · 13/04/2019 08:52

I can sing. I used to be a backing singer. I also have a but of a hidden opera voice which I occasionally release much to people's amazement and amusement too.
DD has an amazing voice. She's in her second year of a performing arts BTEC and is planning to go into the entertainment industry.
Singing is so good for your mood. We sing all the time at home even dh who is pretty tone deaf 😜

CalamityJune · 13/04/2019 08:55

I love singing, it's great for your mood. I wouldn't say I was talented but I sing quite often and so give it a good go.

thiscannotbenormal · 13/04/2019 09:10

I used to be a mezzo soprano but years of reflux has pretty much wrecked my voice.

mydogisthebest · 13/04/2019 10:33

No I can't and it really saddens me. I so envy people who can sing.

I love to put on music and sing along but only at home where no one can hear me except DH. I sound worse than a cat being murdered

applesarerroundandshiny · 13/04/2019 15:22

Yes I sing brilliantly along to the radio on the car. Alone. As my view isn't shared by others.

When I was in a school production in primary school the HT told me to mime.

ChopinIn10Minuets · 16/04/2019 00:31

Has anyone any opinions on the most difficult song to sing?

At the appropriate time of year, Ding Dong Merrily on High is a total bitch to get right. Not too bad in terms of range, but long fiddly phrases and really hard to get the note definition in the chorus.

If you want professional levels of difficulty you could always try the verses of Rule Britannia. And if you stuff that up you'll be in good company - I remember Kiri te Kanawa overreaching herself with that one a couple of decades ago. Grin

AlliKaneErikson · 16/04/2019 06:06

I should hope I can- I’m a singing teacher! I’m lucky to work with some fantastic students.

AlliKaneErikson · 16/04/2019 06:08

As for difficult songs, check out the Queen of the Night’s aria (although not really something you’d expect to sing every day).

ChopinIn10Minuets · 16/04/2019 08:34

AlliKane I think you need to be an ultra-high soprano, of the born-not-made variety, to manage the Queen of the Night aria! Most of us have about as much chance of hitting those top notes as we have of winning Olympic gold at gymnastics.Grin

WitchyBollox · 16/04/2019 16:30

Allikane I have never known a singing teacher who can't sing but definitely a few people who have taken choirs haven't been able to. That is awkward . . .

SilverBangle · 16/04/2019 19:13

I have never known a singing teacher who can't sing but definitely a few people who have taken choirs haven't been able to. That is awkward

I know a vocal coach who can't sing. She can hit the high and low notes, I admit. But the tone of her voice can only be described as someone running their nails down a blackboard! 😫

WitchyBollox · 16/04/2019 21:15

Oooh SilverBangle, that's not good. Actually I can now think of one now you have said that. Technically they can sing but I wouldn't actually want them to. The 2 vocal coaches DS has worked with are amazing singers, he loves listening to them and it inspires him.

AlliKaneErikson · 16/04/2019 22:00

Ooh yes, witchy that is a bit awkward!

I was kind of joking with my suggestion Chopin (loving your name, by the way!); it’s stupidly hard- but amazing g to see/hear performed.

musicposy · 16/04/2019 22:18

I can sing and it really is just training for almost everyone. Very few people can't be taught to sing.

I'm mainly a piano teacher but have a few singing pupils. It's weird because when people come to me for piano lessons the pupils/ parents don't expect me to decide on the first lesson if they'll be the next Mozart - they expect to learn. But singing, they always say "will she be any good? Do you think she's teachable?" They don't realise it's like learning an instrument. I've never had anyone I couldn't say yes to. Even pupils who couldn't pitch at all at the beginning learnt to do it.

OP, get yourself just a few lessons. It'll be well worth it. A good singing teacher can really help with the things you struggle with and as you say you belt, also make sure you aren't straining your voice.

musicposy · 16/04/2019 22:30

In answer to your earlier question about singing softly, I suspect you are holding too much tension in your throat and face area and singing by forcing the air through.
Try to breathe really deeply, right into your stomach, and keep your head area and throat as relaxed as possible. Then start by just humming softly, scales up and down, maybe just 5 notes to start with, in the middle of your range. Keep your face and lips very relaxed. See if you can hold a tune on the humming scale first and don't go too high or low. This is a start which you can then build on.

AlliKaneErikson · 18/04/2019 00:52

Absolutely *- people say ‘I can’t sing, I’m tone deaf’, but really they just haven’t discovered the pitch range where their voice ‘sits’ (however narrow that might be!).

MitziK · 18/04/2019 02:01

I was banned from choir at school because my voice was too low. My mother insisted that she was the one who could sing [punctuated by some squawky, reedy approximation of an asthmatic parrot]. My ex forbade me from singing because I 'sound like a bloke'.

Turns out that I'm a dramatic soprano with a ridiculous range. So I end up getting put into whatever section needs a bit of oomph. Presently, I'm Tenor 1 because I can get from Bb2 to A5 with a tailwind. It makes warmups and rehearsals entertaining, especially when I'm teaching and will switch from the S lines to the Ts without missing a step. When I had a throat infection once, but had to get through a rehearsal at around 20% of volume, I dropped another 5th. Which was scary low.

I'm also pretty damn good at Jazz, Rock and Folk.

The key to finding that out was deciding I didn't actually give a fuck what other people thought, though. As soon as I stopped caring and started doing, the voice came, probably because it's about supporting your voice and breathing.

I do suspect that, had I done it sooner, some git would have shoved me onstage in britches or a horned helmet and taken me away from my Queen and Nina Simone albums, which is probably how I ended up plumbing the vocal depths in the first place, along with my favourite opera aria, Largo al factotum due to watching Tom and Jerry cartoons

Just do it. The people who say horrible things NEVER have the balls to put themselves up on stage. NEVER.

AlliKaneErikson · 18/04/2019 03:18

An ex of mine had a massive complex and was convinced he couldn’t sing as one of the nuns at his school told him to mime in the school concert because he couldn’t sing!! It genuinely upset him until adulthood. So many kids (and adults) get put off and lose confidence- it’s sad.